Sony Vegas, More help

Aloha

Now working on a new project. It consists of 4 hours of Mini DV tape. I have captured the tape and it resulted in 393 clips. I have reviewed 133 clips, trimmed and assembled them on the time line. This is HD video. So far the length is 1 hour 1 minute ? seconds. The project is a travel on trains of a group of rail fans. Distribution of the final project will be to these fans.

What is the length of the project maximum? If I exceed this how do I split the project. Do I build it as one time line, or multiples of x length. Or do I build the whole project then render and output to multiple DVD's

I don't think that Vegas has a maximum file length but bear in mind that about all you can fit on a DVD is around 100 minutes MAX!!
Now, more inportantly..no-one in there right mind will sit thru hours and hours of video ..in fact the normal attention span of an adult is less than 20 minutes. That's why TV shows have ad breaks to keep your attention and give your brain a rest!!!

What I do with weddings is break up the program into clips which are all relative eg: bride getting ready, bride arriving, ceremony, bride being congratulated etc etc etc...On you DVD you simply add each clip and also add menu items so people can just watch what they want to ...you naturally link the clips together so the die-hard enthusiasts can watch everything. If you always fade to black at the end of a clip they will play almost seamlessly but do it at logical points.
Do the clips maybe from one station to another as they do their trip and it will be a lot more interesting to watch.

I use DVD Lab to make the menu but only cos I think it's easier to use than Architect!!! Also by working with lots of short clips, editing is way easier and re-edits are not a nightmare either.

Good thoughts about the attention span. And with a 100 minute limit on the DVD do you recommend building this as 3 projects or can I build it as 1 and then render it to 3 DVD's depending on just how much good video there really is. The finished video is for about 20 die-hard rail fans so breaking it into what fits on a DVD is ok.

What you need to do is see what the entire footage encompasses.. is it a journey from one point to another??? Look at the footage and do it with clips not exceeding 20 mins if you can...depends on the coverage..you might have to go over. Most rail trips with be to multiple locations...if I was doing it I would do the stuff between destination points as individual clips ..ie : station A to B then Station B to C ...that way you can then also decide (maybe by region) what to put on each DVD??? It doesn't matter if DVD 1 has 40 mins and DVD 2 has 90 minutes .... just make sure that you split it roughly into 3 segments (if you need 3 DVD's)
and each segment will have the clips that are important. If it was say a European trip from London to Rome by train, you would make DVD 1 "London to Paris" and then DVD 2 "Paris to Madrid" and DVD 3 "Madrid to Rome" each DVD would then have all the necessary clips to cover the destinations eg: clip 1 - Leaving London, Clip 2 - the Channel Tunnel Clip 3 ..... etc etc etc Get the idea?????? If you do it like that and break each DVD at a point where part of a journey ends then the DVD changeover appears natural !!

Actually this is from the LA-San Diego area. next July the same group of us are riding traind in the Pacific North West, Portland, Seattle, and British Vancouver. This is a shorter fest so most likely will be a one disk video.

I am still unclear on on point you are making. Do I assemble all the video on one time line and then render sections to a DVD or create 2 0r 3 projects. My current thinking is one time line till I determine exactly how long the good video is. Then either render to the number of DVD's necessary, or copy the time line 2 or 3 times and delete what won't fit. This also makes me think what if I want to make a short section for the web, Do I make another project, or render only the part I want to put on the web.

Nope...make short clips and then use your DVD authoring software to build a DVD with the clips. Having say 20 mins on the timeline is manageable but over an hour will be a nightmare to edit!! That way you can also sort out which clips to compile to which DVD to give the program continuity even if the viewers have to change a DVD. With weddings I might have up to 20 different clips but they will run fairly seamlessly on a DVD. With your web requirement you will have a bunch of projects so you can simply choose just one to send to Vimeo or YouTube.

I personally would break the footage into as many projects as I could ...easy to manage and quick to render but if you run them all together it's still a full movie!!

Sony Vegas is the absolute worst editing platform on earth! Sony always tries to reinvent the wheel with their products. I'm a big fan of Sony products (i.e. TV's, Audio and video equip, etc.) but their editing software is terrible. I was asked to work on a Vegas Pro system and got so frustrated that I ended up finishing the project on a cheap $60 Pinnacle Editing suite.

It's all a matter of personal choice I guess!!
I tried them all and Pinnacle for me was the most frustrating..crash after crash..I have used Vegas since Version 4 and never had an issue!! Then again I dislike Sony cameras ..I have used Panasonics since the first full VHS camcorder came out and never changed.

I always say that you need to use (cameras and editing) what you are comfortable with!! I have a buddy who swears by Pinnacle 12 !! Other use Adobe and I find that akward and inconvenient.

All NLE's have their good and bad points ..so do cameras . It's just a matter of personal preference!!

Just for interest video editing and pole dancing seem an unusual combination. Is there a connection or is one a job and one a hobby??